Usually, only AIs with expectations exceeding 90% of 100 are given names. The AI most similar to the current Kim Seok-jin, Jung Hoseok. I clearly saw Jung Hoseok being transported to a scrapyard six months ago, but that couldn't be true. The sky was a huge hole, and the rain poured down like a torrential downpour, and Kim Seok-jin, towering over me, with his confused, unsure expression, was eating away at my heart. A holy thunderclap struck. This was unbelievable. The sudden downpour, after so long in the rainy season, made me frown repeatedly.
"What is that paper?"
"That's it."
:Kim Seok-jin restricted area
ⓒ 2021. Factorization All rights reserved.
"nice to meet you."
Seokjin, who had barely managed to get his feet on the place where there was a lot of ironwork, grabbed Hoseok's hand. Hoseok, with a puzzled expression and narrowed his eyebrows, wiped Seokjin's left hand on his shirt. He didn't seem to like it. Hoseok then sat down on a hard plastic chair and brought Seokjin a cup of coffee. Even the moment he took it was not affectionate.
Seokjin's tongue swiped at the steaming cup of coffee held close to his parched lips, oblivious to the steam rising from his fingers, which were now clammy with moisture. "Not taking it?" No. That's me. For some greedy reason, Seokjin couldn't say he was a mere lump of scrap metal, incapable of drinking coffee.
"Oh, you can't drink it."
Hoseok snatched the coffee cup from Seokjin, who was motionless and struggling, while bending the sole of the brown slippers he was wearing as if Seokjin was feeling suffocated.
And then.
slurp-
He poured the coffee into the rust-covered sink. Seokjin had to wrap his arms around his calves and listen to the helpless dripping of the coffee Hoseok had so carelessly spilled. Seokjin's chest heaved. It creaked as if it were rusting, or more accurately, it was burning hot and pounding. It felt like a fire had engulfed him.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you feeling wronged?"
"No, that's not it."
"I don't know why you took my place. You can't drink this either. You're just like me."
Hoseok trembled like an aspen leaf. He still trembled when he thought about the day he died in that fire pit. I thought, "How much more amazing must I have been to make something so special, but what can you do now?" Seokjin stood up as soon as Hoseok finished speaking. He knew it was all unnecessary extravagance, but Hoseok's words seemed to highlight that he was nothing more than a machine.
"I want to go out."
"If you run away from here, you'll end up like me. If you don't want to forget everything, listen carefully to what I say."
"ᆢ."
"I'll copy your data. Put it in the paper bag I'm giving you now."
"yes?"
Seokjin, a mere lump of iron, had a habit of fumbling with his pockets. Hoseok was irritated by Seokjin's constant fiddling with his pockets since he'd entered. He was jealous of Seokjin, a fellow AI, for having such a habit. He simply seemed so human. That vague, unsettling feeling, like having eaten a handful of hair, made Hoseok sway for a moment.
[Mr. Hoseok, please bring JIN to the second floor.]
[All right.]
[Now I have to reset it, but the manager is angry because it hasn't come even after waiting.]
Hoseok brought a USB and inserted it into the small hole at the back of Seokjin's neck. Soon, Hoseok put the USB in a clear ziplock bag and threw it deep into the cupboard.
"Don't act suspiciously, and don't say anything stupid like you were with me the whole time."
:Kim Seok-jin restricted area
ⓒ 2021. Factorization All rights reserved.
"What's the problem?"
I couldn't answer. I couldn't read the handwriting on the piece of paper he'd so readily handed over. It looked like it had been intentionally smudged. Could it be Seokjin? No way. If he'd been hiding it in the first place, there would have been no need or reason to hand it over. So when did Jung Ho-seok hand this paper over? Before the reset? Or after? If it was afterward, Seok-jin wouldn't have accepted it. So, did he hand it over before then?
No. There was no way Jeong Ho-seok would be alive in the first place.
I hurriedly searched for Jeong Ho-seok's data that had been left on my laptop for a while.
Huh?
All the data that had been fine until then was now set to 0. It was as if someone had intentionally cut all the connections. There wasn't a single normal value. All of Jeong Ho-seok's data was gone. From his personal information, to the entire process of his creation, everything. How did this happen?
"Seokjin. Did you see what was written on that paper?"
"no."
Yes. No way. Seokjin is nothing more than a machine. How could he possibly lie? My head felt pounding with impatience, as if I had a fever. Yes, these are nothing more than mere machines I've created. There's no need to worry. Machines that operate solely through human movement. It's okay.
I let go of my worries. What am I thinking about now, what am I giving meaning to? Like the AIs you see in movies, these things can never have their own unique emotions. They can only mimic emotions based on input.
"My fever is higher than usual."
"It's nothing. I was worrying for nothing."
Especially now that I've already entered and reset the emotions I've acquired, I can't let that go. I slowly raised my head and pressed the corner of my eye. I sighed deeply and reached for my phone.
[Taehyung, please restore Jung Ho-seok's data.]
[It must be there? Did you forget?]
[No. I just checked and they were all gone.]
[Really? That's weird. I'll restore it later.]
[Yeah. Thank you.]
I felt needlessly anxious. I was afraid that all my years of suffering, agony, and hard work would crumble. My thought process froze countless times. I decided to just rationalize it for a moment. Everything would be okay.
:Kim Seok-jin restricted area
ⓒ 2021. Factorization All rights reserved.
"It's strange. There's no way it wouldn't be restored."
Taehyung kept clicking on the analysis file that kept failing. It just kept saying "error." Could anyone stop this? Really? Unless they're a machine. A machine. No way.
[This won't restore. It's weird.]